1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to modular framing systems and more particularly to assembly accessories used to attach one structural framing member to another.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Structures built from modular framing systems based on aluminum alloy structural framing members (commonly termed xe2x80x9cprofilesxe2x80x9d) are lighter and more easily assembled than similar structures framed from steel tubes. Ease of assembly and the absence of a need to weld, with consequential labor savings, is an important market place advantage of aluminum profiles over steel tubes. A feature of aluminum profiles that confers this advantage in assembly is T-slots which run lengthwise along the profiles on the exterior of the members. Aluminum profiles can be fabricated with a T-slot because aluminum has a lower melting temperature than steel and this allows aluminum to be readily extruded. Steel cannot be extruded at convenient temperatures. An extrusion die may be used to apply a wide variety of cross-sectional shapes to the aluminum profile. One such shape is the T-slot.
T-slots allow the quick and easy introduction of a wide variety of attachment accessories which may be oriented to cooperate with the interior surfaces of the T-slot for positioning and locking, often without mechanical modification of the framing member. T-nuts are one example of such an accessory.
Another example of a type of connector is an inside-to-inside gusset available from Bosch Automation Technology, Buchanan, Mich. and described at page 3-10 in the Bosch Aluminum Structural Framing System Catalog for 2000. The Bosch inside-to-inside gusset provides a concealed right angle connection of profiles by joining the inside T-slot of one profile to the inside T-slot of a second profile. An inside-to-inside connection is one which leaves all fastening set screws positioned through the gusset accessible after the connection is completed.
The Bosch gusset provides, in essence, a right angle bracket having pairs of horizontally aligned retaining flanges extending from each side of each leg distal to the junction of the legs. The bracket legs are sized to fit through the exterior slit of the T-slot to the exterior surfaces of the profiles. The flanges, which are spaced sufficiently from the junction of the legs to avoid interference with an adjacent profile, retain the bracket in a T-slot, but allow the gusset to be introduced to the slot from either open end of the slot in the profile. The Bosch gusset provides an aesthetically clean joinder of two profiles and is suitable for applications involving light loads. The gusset is necessarily positioned adjacent the end of one profile, however the second profile may be joined at any point along its length. The second profile may be repositioned after assembly. If repositioned to bring the gusset adjacent one of its ends, the first profile may then be moved. However, the apex of the bracket extends out from the T-slot at an open end of a profile. Thus, while the profiles may be positioned so that both are joined substantially adjacent their ends by the gusset, the gusset apex will prevent positioning a third profile against adjacent open ends of a joined pair of profiles. This feature of T-slot extrusions restricts application of the gusset structurally.
According to the invention there is provided a connector for positioning a pair of structural framing members perpendicular to one another. The structural framing members each have at least one T-slot running lengthwise along a major surface of the structural framing member. The connector includes a pair of guides, each guide being shaped and sized to fit within a T-slot of one of the framing members for positioning. A strut diagonally connects the pair of guides, holding the guides in fixed positions relative to one another, usually mutually perpendicular. The connector further includes each of the pair of guides being elongated in its direction of linear movement within a T-slot. Each guide further has a cross sectional shape in a direction perpendicular to its direction of elongation conforming to the interior shape of the T-slot. Guides may be introduced at either of two ends in the direction elongation to an open end of a T-slot of a structural framing member.
Additional effects, features and advantages will be apparent in the written description that follows.